TAMPA, Fla. - Frank Taney, the lawyer for Second Life creator Kevin Alderman - aka Stroker Serpentine - was interviewed on CNBC regarding Eros LLC v. John Doe, the copyright-infringement lawsuit Alderman filed on July 3.
The news segment enticed its viewers by opening with the question: "Can you have a real copyright lawsuit in real court about virtual sex in the virtual world?"
CNBC reporter Bill Griffeth tackled the question, putting Taney head-to-head with attorney Andrew Langsam, defending lawyer for a person known as Volkov Catteneo, who Alderman accuses of unlawfully copying and selling Alderman's copyrighted creation, the SexGen bed. Alderman, who operates Eros LLC, created the bed more than two years ago and sells it on Second Life, a 3-D virtual world online. Alderman learned of Catteneo's illegal production of the product and filed the suit in a U.S. district court in Tampa. Alderman and Taney currently are searching for Catteneo's real identity. They have obtained "leave of court," and have subpoenaed both PayPal and Linden Lab, creator of Second Life, giving them until July 20 to hand over Catteneo's real identity.
Taney represented Alderman, the self-proclaimed "Hugh Hefner of the Virtual Millennium," on the news segment. "My client makes his living selling virtual objects," Taney explained to Griffeth. "He recently discovered that this other user was copying his materials, using his trademark, undercutting him, and taking sales from him. We regard this as a very serious threat."
"What's wrong with this lawsuit is that Second Life is a virtual fantasy world developed for people to play out their fantasies," Langsam said. "The plaintiff in this case, Eros, has developed a bed for the virtual fantasy world, and the defendant - whoever and wherever he may be - has chosen to copy that in theory in this fantasy world. But that may be his fantasy: Maybe this person's fantasy is to counterfeit and go against the normal law-abiding citizen."
Taney argued against Langsam's point, stating it instead is an issue of commerce. "Linden Research Inc. has made it clear to all participants that all persons who create content retain their rights of owning their product," he said.
Langsam begged to differ with Alderman's attorney. "I believe that the lawsuit should still be settled in a virtual court, before a virtual judge, rendering a virtual judgment," he countered. "Now I think that it is inappropriate and unfair to the accused infringer to have him [defend himself] in a U.S. district court in the state of Florida when he might be in a resident or citizen in a different state or country - where different laws apply and he may not apply - and he may not be technically under the jurisdiction of this court. To pull him into the United States, you must prove a substantial affect on U.S. commerce."
Following the news segment, Taney responded in an interview regarding Langsam's suggestion that the suit proceed in a virtual court. "The problem is that there is no such thing as a virtual court," he said. "We cannot and will not wait 10 or so years for that to happen. This is a straightforward copyright-infringement lawsuit that can and should be handled right away."
